The Writers' Symposium

The Writers' Symposium is made up of 20+ professional writers and editors. We come together, usually at the Gen Con Game Fair, to run seminars and give critiques of writing samples. Our mission is to "Help Writers Write." Read this blog for tips on improving your writing and getting published. I (Paul Genesse) used to send out an ezine, nine issues were produced, but it is on hiatus for now. You can still sign up for the Writers' Symposium Ezine by sending an email to WritersSymposium@PaulGenesse.comin case it comes back in the future, but for now, please read the blog.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Mercur Cemetery

Mercur Cemetery (check out all the pics on the public link to my Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=208020&id=583339135&l=16fd084bbb

You’re walking on the unmarked graves of gold miners, prostitutes, and children when you set foot in the old Mercur Cemetery near Tooele, Utah. It’s a creepy place, with a strange amount of dark beauty. Think haunted forest with a view.

What I’m referring to is my third ghost hunt with Wasatch Paranormal Investigators on April 9, 2010. It was quite interesting, but had a different vibe than the last hunt I went on. This time I was only freaked out a couple of times, and only very briefly. The feeling at the cemetery was more peaceful, than terrifying.

We tramped around the forested cemetery on a ridge for several hours looking at the marked graves and wondering how many unmarked graves we were walking on.

We did have some strange encounters. At one point during the freezing night (32 degrees) we were standing around a small campfire, taking a break, when I was inviting any spirits present to come and join us. I was shushed by Tom Carr and Larry Correia. Very loud, heavy footsteps were right behind us on the gravel path, not more than ten feet away. We shone our lights on the path, but no one was there and our whole group was standing still around the fire.

We also had some serious K2 sessions. A K2 meter is an electromagnetic field monitoring device that lights up when there are changes to the electromagnetic field. At Annie’s grave, the little girl’s grave is in my pictures, we had a long yes/no session with a spirit—probably hers. We would ask yes or no questions and the spirit would respond by tapping the device once or twice. Once for no, twice for yes. It was very creepy.

We had a few other K2 sessions that night, but we didn’t see any full-bodied apparitions. Tom Carr describes his first investigation at the cemetery in his book, Talking to Myself in the Dark, and sadly, we didn’t have that sort of experience. That time, Tom and his group ended up fleeing the cemetery not long after they arrived.

You just never know what sort of experience you’re going to have when you go on a paranormal investigation. Some crazy part of me wanted to be terrified out of my mind, but the more rational part was relieved we left on our own terms, instead of being chased away by angry ghosts.